Thursday, January 26, 2012

Amish Sect Fights SMV Signs

LA Times:
Reflective orange safety triangles are, by their nature, flashy. The Amish, as a general rule, don't do flashy.
Hence the dilemma in western Kentucky, where members of an ultraconservative Amish branch called Swartzentruber are rejecting the state-mandated use of the safety triangles on their horse-drawn buggies.
In recent months, as the Associated Press has chronicled, a number of Swartzentruber men in the state have been jailed for refusing to pay fines levied against them when they were stopped for driving without the triangles.
The members of the Swartzentruber group eschew most modern conveniences, including electricity and plumbing. The safety triangles, they say, lend a little too much worldly razzle-dazzle to their rides, and thus violate their vow to adhere to a radically simple life.
They also believe that the triangles are unnecessary because traffic safety and its attendant vicissitudes are ultimately managed by God.
I think in Ohio they are allowed gray reflective triangles instead of the usual red and orange.  Here it is:
(F) Every animal-drawn vehicle upon a street or highway shall at all times be equipped in one of the following ways:
(1) With a slow-moving vehicle emblem complying with division (B) of this section;
(2) With alternate reflective material complying with rules adopted under this division;
(3) With both a slow-moving vehicle emblem and alternate reflective material as specified in this division.
The director of public safety, subject to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, shall adopt rules establishing standards and specifications for the position of mounting of the alternate reflective material authorized by this division. The rules shall permit, as a minimum, the alternate reflective material to be black, gray, or silver in color. The alternate reflective material shall be mounted on the animal-drawn vehicle so as to be visible, at all times specified in section 4513.03 of the Revised Code, from a distance of not less than five hundred feet to the rear when illuminated by the lawful lower beams of headlamps.
I thought so.

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